PHILIPPINES

PHILIPPINES
Background of the Country
PHILIPPINES – named after King Philip II of Spain
- An archipelago of 7107 islands
- Ranked 12 most populated country as of 2018
- Has 11 languages and 87 dialects
- Found at South East Asia
- Filipino and English is the language used.

Interesting Facts
 The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River in Palawan is 8.2 kilometers long. Until
the discovery of a 10-kilometer underground river in Mexico, the Puerto Princesa
River was the longest subterranean waterway in the world.

 The world's largest Christmas lantern was illuminated in San Fernando, Pampanga on
Dec. 24, 2002. The structure was 26.8 meters in diameter and cost five million
Philippine pesos.
 Then in 1611, the University of Santo Tomas (or, lovingly, "Usté") was founded in Manila by
the Dominican Order. It is the world's largest Catholic university in terms of population. Both it
and University of San Carlos are older than Harvard, which was not founded until 1636.

 The rice terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The terraces
were built about 2,000 years ago and — thanks to the rough terrain keeping settlers out —
remain as they would have been in pre-colonial times.

 After the Second World War, the Philippine jeepney was born out of the G.I. Jeeps American
soldiers brought to the country in the 1940s. It's Pinoy upcycling!
Author’s Background
JOSE GARCIA VILLA
- Filipino poet, literary critic, short story writer and painters.
- Awarded National Artist of the Philippines title for literature in 1973.
- Received Guggenheim Fellowship in creative writing
- Introduced the “reversed consonance rime scheme” in writing poetry thus he was
known as the “Comma Poet”
- Used the penname Doveglion
- He uses modernism and surrealism as literary movement.

SONNET I
By Jose Garcia Villa

First, a poem must be magical,

Then musical as sea gull.
It must be brightness moving
And hold secret a bird’s flowering.
It must be slender as a bell,
And it must hold a fire as well.
It must have the wisdom of bows
 And it must kneel like a rose.
It must be able to hear
The luminance of dove and deer.
It must be able to hide
What it seeks, like a bride.
And over all I would like to hover
God, smiling from the poem’s cover.

Analization of the Sonnet

Persona: JOSE GARCIA VILLA

Mood: PASSIONATE

Tone: ASTONISHED

Subject: POEM

LINE/PHRASE MEANING
“musical sea gull” Poem should be a rarity and something unheard of
“bright moving” Poem should not be dull and constant
“hold’s secret a bird’s flowering” Showing a new perspective to the reader
“slender as bell” A poem’s size is not fixed
“fire as well” Represents wit and rain in a poem
“wisdom of bows” Wisdom is not merely restricted to a certain subject and person.
“kneel like a rose” Indicates humility in beauty and strength
“must be able to hear” Poem must be sensitive
“luminance of dove and dear” Gentleness and purity
“must be able to hide and seeks like a bride” Poems meaning should not be in clear vision
“Hover God’s smiling from the poem’s The writer of the poem would e the God of the poem
cover”